Colorfade
by MapleleafOfThunderClan
Summary: *An AU, not based in Original Undertale* *Fem!Frisk* Monsters, after being trapped Underground for thousands of years without sunlight, waning resources, and other things detrimental to their health, begin noticing their magic weakining. So, eventually they adapted to sustain what little physicality their forms had. They lost something non-essential to their survival- their color.
1. Ch1-Colorless Ruins

**A/N: So. This is my new AU, Colorfade! (Or Color!Drain, haven't entirely decided yet) but! Some dialogue might not be entirely accurate to the game because do you really expect me to remember each and every bit of dialogue? I have the memory of Ink!Sans and the laziness of Classic!Sans. It will still be fairly similar to the original universe for now, but it'll get more and more different as we go on.**

**_Chapter One: Colorless Ruins_**

Frisk blinked open her eyes, glancing at the _extremely_ pale yellow flowers all around her. If they were any paler she'd mistake them for being white. The nine-year-old girl stood up, ignoring the pain that surely came from her long fall.

She came to a dark room. In the middle was the only patch of light, on top of... _gray_ _grass_..? What? Correct her if she was wrong... but wasn't grass supposed to be _green_?

"Howdy!"

She jumped in surprise as the pale silver flower popped up out of the ground.

"I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

She was... startled. Grass was supposed to be _green_, flowers weren't supposed to _talk_ or have _cartoon faces_\- or, any faces for that matter. But, this weird flower seemed friendly enough so she smiled and shyly waved hello.

"You're new to the underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be _so confused_. Someone'll have to show you how things work down here! Guess little 'ol me'll have to do."

Suddenly, three clicks sounded from seemingly out of nowhere and she went as grayscale as her surroundings, a little red heart floating in front of her being the only source of color.

"_What_..? Ahem, sorry, 's just that I haven't seen anything that red for a long time! Anyway, that little red heart right there is your soul! The very culmination of your being! It starts out weak, but you can make it stronger with LV! What does LV stand for? Why, L.O.V.E. of course! Down here, L.O.V.E. is shared through little white... _friendliness pellets_."

Frisk took a slight step back. She didn't trust the hesitation or emphasis when he said that. She also decided it was best not to mention she didn't quite know what the word 'culmination' meant.

"Here! I'll give some to you! Just run into them!"

Several 'friendliness pellets' that were a ghostly white appeared around Flowey. They came flying towards her. She twirled out of the way before they hit her.

Flowey looked somewhat annoyed.

"Hey, buddy, you missed 'em. Don't worry! I'll give you some more. Run into 'em this time!"

Several more came flying at her. She stayed in place this time.

She shrieked in pain as they all hit her soul.

Flowey cackled.

"You idiot! In this world, it's _K_I_L_L_O_R_B_E_K_I_L_L_E_D ! Now, D I E !"

Flowey's smile was no longer happy and cartoonish as a ring of bullets friendliness pellets enclosed around her.

Suddenly, a colorless flame rammed into Flowey and he disappeared underground.

Frisk was still fairly sure things like grass and flames were supposed to have color, but she decided that didn't really matter right now.

"What a horrible creature, torturing an innocent youth." A monochromatic goat-like creature said.

Frisk faintly noticed that her soul was back inside her and she had color again.

"Hello, my child. Do not be afraid, I am Toriel, guardian of the ruins."

_"Hi! I'm F-R-I-S-K._" She signed, before realizing that Toriel might not understand sign language.

"Hm? I am sorry, my child, but I do not understand. Oh, come here, child. Allow me to heal you."

Toriel placed her hands, glowing with something that looked almost like moonlight, onto Frisk's shoulders.

Frisk could feel her pain numbing, but it also made her feel cold, weak, and sickly, as if all warmth was being sucked from her body.

"Come, my child. I will guide you through the Ruins."

Toriel began waking and Frisk stumbled after her, fighting back her nausea.

Eventually, Toriel left her on her own in a room, but after waiting for awhile Frisk decided to continue on by herself.

As she walked, she noticed that absolutely everything was grayscale. The monsters, the walls, the ground, the water... _everything_.

There _were_ these little four-point star things that had the tiniest hint of yellow in their white light, and when Frisk touched them she felt... safe. Comforted. Determined. There was also a weird voice that said her 'file' was saved, so she decided to call them save points, like in the video games she had so rarely played.

Eventually, she reached a house, and Toriel was standing to the side of a dead-looking tree with monochrome gray leaves at the base.

Toriel pulled out her phone, likely to call Frisk. This was proven true when Frisk's phone rang and Toriel looked at her in surprise.

"My child! How did you get here? I should not have left you alone for so long, I am sorry. Let me heal you."

Frisk silently dreaded the cold, sickly feeling that being 'healed' brought, but she allowed Toriel to do so.

"Come, my child, I have prepared a surprise for you."

Frisk touched the save point before following Toriel.

_*The sight of such a tidy house in the Ruins fills you with DETERMINATION._

_*File saved._

She smiled when she got into the house. Despite the monochromatic... everything, it still felt homely. Much more so than the orphanage Frisk had grown up in, anyway.

"Do you smell that, my child? It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie I baked for you. Oh! I also have something else, come with me."

Frisk held onto Toriel's hand as they walked down the hall.

"A room of your very own! Oh? What is that smell..? Is something burning? I-I will be right back, my child!"

Frisk walked into the room, her smile growing bigger at the toys and clothes and shoes and bed, ignoring the part of her mind that wondered why Toriel had these things.

She suddenly felt very tired, so she climbed into the bed and fell asleep.


	2. Ch2-Faded Home and Falling Snow

**_Chapter 2: Faded Home and Falling Snow_**

Frisk sat up with a yawn, rubbing at her eyes as she glanced around the room.

There was a piece of pie on the floor. Toriel must've left it there for her. Frisk wasn't entirely sure why she put it on the floor instead of the desk, but hey, pie is pie, no matter where you put it, and pie's good.

Frisk stood and picked up the pie before leaving the room. She walked down the hallway a bit before coming to a mirror.

She froze at her reflection. No. That... couldn't be right. The... the strange grayscale of this place must be messing with her mind. Or some sort of weird magic, perhaps.

Her shoulder-length brown hair was.. _gray_ at the tips. She had to admit, it didn't look _bad_ \- not at all, she actually sort of liked it - but she was fairly sure her hair hadn't looked like that before she fell.

Her skin, too, was different. Several shades paler than it had been. Her fingers, she now noticed, were almost a ghostly white at the tips.

Her eyes, once a bright blue, now a much paler blue-silver.

It seemed that whatever it was even affected her clothing. Her shorts were now gray as apposed to their previous light blue; her sweater faded into grayscale at the bottom, and her once-brown boots were now black as well.

Despite the fact she thought the changes looked good on her, she had to fight to stop the scream trying to escape from her mouth.

Yes, that's right. No matter how much she wished she was, she wasn't _truly_ mute. A selective mute, she was quite sure it was called. Still, she hated talking. Hated the way her voice would be hoarse and trembling from underuse when she did. Hated the stutter that she could never get rid of before she became a selective mute.

Frisk shook her head to clear her thoughts. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she walked back down the hallway towards what she assumed to be the living room, where Toriel was sitting and reading a book next to a fireplace.

"Oh, my child, you're awake! Is... is everything alright?"

Frisk shook her head before signing, "_Notebook_," It was a simple sign that didn't necessarily require knowledge of ASL to understand.

"You... need something to write in? Alright, my child. I will be right back."

Toriel placed a bookmark in her book before closing it, setting it on the chair, and walking down the hallway.

A few minutes later she came back holding a notebook and a pencil.

Frisk opened the notebook and began writing.

_'My name is Frisk.'_

Toriel smiled.

"That's a lovely name, Frisk."

_'Thank you._

_Why is everything so... grayscale?'_

"O-oh. Well, that's a bit difficult to explain. You see, monsters once lived in the surface just like humans. Back then, we had color too. But, being underground for so long without the sun and with waning resources our magic began weakening, so we had to adapt to survive. Monsters are mostly magic, so to maintain what little physicality we have, we began having to use less magic. Eventually, our magic apparently decided having color was an unnecessary waste, so we stopped having color.

_'Why am I losing color then?_

_Also, can I keep this notebook?'_

"I... am not sure. It might have something to do with being in contact with color-drained magic, when I'm healing you or other monsters are attacking you, for example. Of course you can keep the notebook, though!"

_'Thanks!'_

"You're welcome, Frisk."

_'Also..._

_How do I leave the Ruins?'_

"I-I... wouldn't you rather hear about this book I'm reading? It's called '72 uses for snails'! Did you know that snails... talk... really... slowly..? Just kidding, snails don't talk. Hehe!"

_'...interesting..?_

_How do I leave the Ruins?'_

"...I have something I need to do. Stay here."

Frisk frowned, closing the notebook and following Toriel.

She followed her down the stairs, and as they walked down a long, long hall, Toriel told her of how she was being foolish. Of how, if she left, _Asgore_ would kill Frisk. How it had happened time and time again with six other humans. Frisk wanted to question how Toriel knew for sure they died if she never left the Ruins, but Toriel never stayed close to her for a long enough time to allow Frisk to get out the notebook and pencil again.

Soon they reached the end off he hallway.

"Hm. So, you refuse to turn back? Then prove to me. Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive."

Three clicks sounded, something Frisk now was familiar with and recognized as the start of a battle.

Frisk once again went black and white, her red soul floating in front of her. She noticed something that drew her concern, the red of her soul fading into white at the very edges, but knew she hadn't time enough to linger on that concern.

White flames flew towards her in spiraling patterns. She dodged them as best she could, but she did get hit once that turn.

The flame felt as if it was freezing and scorching her all at once as it hit her soul. She let out a small whimper of pain, but when it became her turn, did nothing other than spare Toriel.

Toriel, in turn, gave no reaction other than frown in confusion.

The flames kept coming. Again and again she got hit.

_Crrrk!_

...what was... t h a t ... ?

She gasped in shock, her red soul split in half, before shattering into a million pieces all around her.

She barely felt herself falling to the ground, nor did she have time to register Toriel's horrified face before she blacked out.

...

_**Chara! You mustn't give up! Stay determined!**_

...

She blinked in surprise. Who was Chara? Who did that voice belong to?

She noticed with shock that she was once again in front of Toriel's house. What... happened?

She frowned before walking inside.

Toriel didn't seem to remember anything. Telling her the same things as she had before. Frisk went to sleep once again, grabbed the pie, and got the notebook to ask Toriel how to leave the ruins.

This time, when Toriel left to go downstairs, Frisk went outside to save once again before following her.

Toriel, once again, attacked her with spiraling white flames.

She kept sparing her, though.

Eventualy, when Frisk had only two HP remaining, Toriel began crying of how she couldn't save even a single child.

When Toriel spared her and hugged her goodbye, Frisk hugged back tightly, whispering a quiet promise to break the barrier and save all of monsterkind.

Toriel teared up at that, smiling at the child before walking off.

Frisk stepped outside the huge doors, before freezing in shock.

_How the heck was it snowing underground?!_


	3. Ch3-Chilled to the BONE

**A/N:**

**CouchWriting: Honestly seems like Undertale without pure color descriptions...**

**Response: Well, yeah, it does right _now_, but that changes this chapter, along with some of it being in Sans' point of view! I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading and reviewing! *not sure what you meant by "pure" color descriptions... but... eh, whatever.* Trust me, there will be some major differences, but not until much later. Here's a hint, though! It has something to do with how Frisk's soul looked different in the last chapter.**

**Chapter 3: Chilled to the _Bone_**

Frisk shivered as she looked around the snowy landscape. She was... _definitely_ not dressed for this weather.

She began walking along the path, hoping that if she kept moving she wouldn't freeze to death.

Although, she had thought about it a bit, and was sure that she had already died before, to Toriel, so it probably wouldn't matter if she died again. Still, she didn't exactly think that hypothermia would be a pleasant way to go, so she decided to avoid it as best she could.

She saw a large, gray stick in front of her and tried to pick it up, but frowned when she found it was far too heavy. She tried stomping on it out of frustration, but it didn't even bend.

She kept walking, jumping when a loud crack sounded behind her.

She turned around slowly, shaking even more from both the cold that built up in her from standing still and fear when she saw the huge branch had been cracked as if it was nothing more than a toothpick.

She began walking even faster towards a bridge, bordering on running, or at least jogging.

When she got to the bridge she found herself unable to move, a cold force gripping her soul.

Panic began building up in her, all of her instincts shouting at her to run, but being unable to.

"h-human... don'tcha know how t-to greet a new p-pal? turn around... a-and shake my hand."

She was forced to turn, and the sight that greeted her was unexpected.

From the broken branch, and deep, albeit stuttering, voice, she was expecting a much larger monster than this skeleton that was little taller than herself, wearing a white t-shirt, gray jacket with the fluffy hoodie pulled over his head, pale silver fluffy house slippers... with socks underneath them? Who wears _socks_ with _slippers_?

She reaches out her hand to shake his. Noting that the lights in his eye sockets watched her every movement warily.

**_Pfffttt_**

She giggled slightly as she noticed the whoopie-cushion in his hand.

"whoopie-cushion in the h-hand trick, it's always f-funny."

_"It was! I'm F-R-I-S-K."_ She signed before even realizing that he probably wouldn't understand.

But, contrary to what she thought, the smile on his face widened.

_"you sign? wow, the only other people i've met who understand asl are my brother, one of __my friends, and my dad._" He replied in sign language just as fluent, if not more so than hers. "_i'm s-a-n-s. s-a-n-s the skeleton._" He added after a moment.

"_Uh... it's kinda cold. Can we... not stand here any longer?_" She asked.

"oh, h-heh. Sorry. the cold just g-goes right through me. although... i-i do guess for a human, and o-one that isn't really d-dressed properly for t-the snow... it'd probably be quite cold. c'mon my bro'll b-be just ahead. y'know, i-i'm actually supposed to b-be on lookout f-for humans. i'm too l-lazy for that, though. my bro, papyrus, on the other hand, is a human-hunting fanatic. he has a g-good, albeit non-existent, heart though, a-and he's harmless, e-even if he tries n-not to be. y'know, it'd really make his day if he saw you. he's been a bit down lately, but i bet seeing you would make 'em really happy."

"_Alright... so what, he just... sees me, and... captures me?_"

"ah, glad you're agreein' to it. nah, though. he'll try and stump you with his puzzles, first. my bro loves puzzles almost as much as spaghetti."

Frisk walked beside Sans as they crossed the bridge.

"there he is over there. go hide behind that conveniently-shaped lamp."

Frisk nodded and went to hide behind the lamp.

She had to admit, though. Sitting in the snow unmoving like this definitely wasn't helping her stay warm.

"SANS! THERE YOU ARE! WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN AT YOUR POST?! I've been worried..."

"ah, sorry, bro. i- uh... isn't the-that lamp interesting? don'tcha w-wanna check it out?"

"WHAT?! NO! BESIDES, YOU'VE BEEN BOONDOGGLING ALL DAY! YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN ANY WORK DONE!"

"hey, i've gotten a ton of work done today. a _skele-ton_."

A rimshot sounded from seemingly out of nowhere. Frisk decided not to think too much of it, having gotten mostly used to the random sound effects.

"ARGH! THIS IS NO TIME FOR IDIOTIC PUNS! YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN SERIOUSLY HURT, SANS! YOU KNOW HOW LOW YOUR STATS ARE!"

"...i know... sorry, b-bro... but hey, you're still smiling."

"I AM AND I HATE IT! *SIGH* WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO WORK SO HARD JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION? OF COURSE, IT'D BE MUCH EASIER IF YOU DIDN'T JUST SIT AROUND EVERY DAY AND MAKE ME LOOK AFTER YOU. HONESTLY, I SWEAR YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY."

"wow, bro, r-really sounds like you're w-working yourself down to the _bone_."

Another rimshot.

"ARGH! THAT'S IT, I. AM. LEAVING. SANS?"

"yeah, bro?"

"MAYBE PUT A LITTLE MORE_ BACKBONE_ INTO YOUR WORK! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!"

Papyrus walked off before returning with one more, "HEH," and walking off again.

"wow. i am so p-proud. he almost never makes puns. y'know, s-sometimes you'd think he's the older brother, n-not the other way around. d-despite the fact i'm the one who raised him. o-oh. you can come out now, kid. he might c-come back, a-and then you'd have to sit through m-more of my hilarious jokes."

Frisk couldn't move. It... it was too cold.

"...k-kid..?"

She heard the sound of his slippers crunching the snow. It sounded muffled and underwater.

"oh, o-oh, stars, k-kid, you're... oh god... oh god... P-PAPYRUS!"

She faintly felt something fluffy and warm being wrapped around her. Frisk's vision was beginning to black out, and within a few moments she lost hold on consciousness.

**POV Change: Sans**

Oh god, oh god... no, no... god no. This can't be happening. Not now. Not with Sans being the only monster here.

"oh, o-oh, stars, k-kid you're... oh god... oh god... P-PAPYRUS!" Sans screamed for his younger brother, knowing that Papyrus' healing magic was much stronger than his own. Not like that was saying much, with Sans' healing magic being non-existent, but still.

He placed his hand on Frisk's arm, fear spiking in his soul when he realized that there was only a barely noticeable difference in temperature between her and the snow.

He quickly took off his hoodie, wrapping it around the small human's shoulders.

He noticed that she had lost consciousness. Okay, bad, bad, very bad.

He was about to scream for his brother again when he felt the familiar magic of Papyrus' soul coming closer.

"S-SANS?! I HEARD YOU SCREAMING, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

"i... i'm fine, pap, this human isn't..!"

"H-HUMAN?! WHAT... WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM?"

"hypothermia. she's too cold, pap. she's already unconscious. too much longer and she'll die. i... i'd teleport her back to our house but... i-i can't teleport anyone other than myself without risking falling down."

Sans blinked in slight surprise when Papyrus picked both him and the human up and began running at top speed.

"p-p-pap..! s-slow down a bit! t-the w-wind can h-hurt her too r-right now..!"

Papyrus slowed down slightly. But only slightly, of course.

Within a minute they were back at their house.

Sans set Frisk on their couch and teleported to quickly grab one of the many blankets from his own room.

"pap, make her some hot cocoa for when she wakes up, would ya? i'mma monitor her and make sure she doesn't warm up too slow or too fast. then she'll need some warmer clothes to change into. mine'll probably fit her well enough, so that should be fine."

"ALRIGHT, BROTHER. I HAVE TO ADMIT THOUGH, YOUR STUTTERS ARE GETTING BETTER. YOU DIDN'T STUTTER AT ALL THAT TIME."

"eh. y-you know i can't exactly help whether i stutter or not, pap. it's m-my magic, not me."

"...I KNOW, BROTHER..."

Sans let out a quiet squeak of surprise as Frisk snuggled up to him in her sleep.

_"how is that comfortable or warm at all..? i'm literally just magic and bones, and not even much magic at that, why would she want to..?"_ Sans though to himself. "_eh, maybe she's just the type that'll cuddle up to anything."_

After a few minutes, Papyrus had almost finished the hot cocoa, and Frisk's eyes began fluttering open.

A moment passed and she seemed to realize how close she was snuggled up to him, and her face flushed before she scooted away, rapidly and sloppily signing apologies.

"h-hey, kiddo, it's fine."

"_What... happened? Where are we?_"

"you passed out, kid. h-hypothermia, i'd assume. me and pap brought ya b-back to our house."

"SANS? IS THE HUMAN AWAKE?"

"y-yeah, pap, she is."

"_Sorry. I... I should've been more careful. Sorry for being a bother._"

"...bother? frisk, uh... i don't r-remember saying it was any trouble."

"_Sorry_."

"heh, kiddo, stop sayin' sorry s-so much. there's nothin' for ya t-to be sorry 'bout."

"WELL, I HAVE JUST FINISHED THE HOT COCOA! I HAVE ALSO PREPARED SOME TRULY MAGNIFICENT SPAGHETTI! MY BEST WORK YET, I MUST SAY. NYEH HEH HEH!"

"alright, pap."

Soon Papyrus came and sat with Sans and Frisk on the couch, handing them each a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of spaghetti.

Frisk took a bite of the spaghetti, her face reflexively scrunching up.

"WELL? HOW IS IT, HUMAN?"

"_It's i-m-p-a-s-t-a-b-l-e to describe._"

Sans held back his snickers as Papyrus gazed at Frisk's signing, mumbling under his breath as he seemingly tried to figure out what the human was saying.

His smile fell after a few moments and his eyes just passed from Frisk to Sans, who had burst out laughing at the human girl's pun.

"o-oh, my, s-stars... kid, that was a-awesome!"

"I-WHA-WHY?! SANS, HOW HAVE YOU ALREADY INFECTED THE HUMAN WITH YOUR HORRIBLE LOVE OF PUNS?!"

"dunno, p-pap. but, uh... i-if i had a _penne_ for every time you got that worked up over a pasta pun, we'd b-be rich."

"OH MY GOODNESS, SANS..."

They ate in silence until they were all done after that.

POV Change: Frisk

Frisk smiled at the skeleton brothers as she finished the spaghetti.

"_I should probably get going._"

"k-kid, wait. y-you aren't really g-gonna..." Sans trailed off, a look of annoyance on his face after a few moments.

He gave Papyrus a pointed glance.

"*SIGH* AGAIN? THAT'S THE THIRD TIME TODAY! I'LL BE RIGHT BACK..."

"_What's wrong?_"

"_my voice does this a lot. since we're skeletons and we don't really have vocal cords, we rely on our magic to talk. my magic, unfortunately, is extremely weak so often i am rendered completely unable to speak, hence my knowing asl._"

Papyrus came back over and handed Sans a glass of water and two pills.

"thanks, bro." Sans said after taking the pills and drinking about half the water. "anyway, as i was saying... you don't really plan on going to w-waterfall without dry clothes, do you, frisk? i mean, they'll get wet there b-but at least they won't be as cold. c'mon, i got some old clothes that'll probably fit ya."

They walked upstairs and Sans went into a room, presumably his, before coming back out and handing Frisk some clothes.

"b-bathroom's the middle door."

Frisk signed her thanks, and gave Sans back his hoodie before walking into the bathroom and getting changed.

The outfit Sans had given her was a light gray shirt with the word 'um' on it, looking like it was an element on the periodic table, with the words 'the element of confusion' below it, some dark gray sweatpants, and pale gray tennis shoes, along with a hoodie slightly lighter than the one he had been wearing along with being a bit less fluffy.

Frisk walked out of the bathroom, and Sans grinned at her. Well, she thought he was grinning at her, anyway. Hard to tell considering it seemed as if his face was stuck in a permanent smile.

"c'mon, kiddo. i'll walk with ya to w-waterfall, till we get to m-my post at least."

**A/N: No. No, I can already sense you guys coming. This AU will not canonically have Frans, so no need to yell at me. Right? I do ship Frans, yes, but only when Frisk is not a child. Frisk is like nine in this, I'm not shipping her with Sans. Closest relationship they're gonna have is either gonna be brother - sister, or father - daughter. More likely the former than the latter.**

**If you are curious as to why Sans stutters and why he needed those pills, y'know how I said the monsters' magic is weakened in this AU? (Did I say that..?) Since Sans is already one of the weakest monsters, his magic is so weak in this AU that not only are his stats probably like 0.5 across the board, but it's also not strong enough for him to steadily conjure his voice, since skeletons don't have vocal cords they rely entirely on their magic to talk, so technically if they truly wanted to they could make themselves sound completely different. Those pills were basically solidified magic. Did that explanation make sense? I hope so...**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!**

**(Honestly I had this done days ago I've just been procrastinating and trying to figure out how to get a steady update schedule for this so I guess I'll try to update either every Friday or at least every other Friday)**


	4. Ch 4-“You’re Blue Now”

_**Aaaaand who's a liar? Huh? Me‽**_

_**...**_

_**You're completely right!**_

_**...this is why I never make schedules for posting chapters. I'm either a workaholic or a lazy as heck procrastinator. There are very, very few things in between.**_

_**Also, as you probably saw I'm using interrobangs now! (Or maybe not. Will let me use interrobangs? Guess we'll find out!) But, I'm kinda debating whether I should keep using them. They're more convenient and I do think they should be used more commonly, but they also look less dramatic. Welp, I'll figure it out.**_

_**Anyway, we're onto Papyrus' fight! Which I'm writing from my horrible memory, so things might not be in the right order or I might get dialogue off or something but it's an AU so does it really matter?**_

_**Undertale and all its characters belong to Toby Fox!**_

_**The Colorfade AU belongs to me! (ask if you wanna write something for it for now, please, and credit me!)**_

_**Chapter 4- "You're blue now."**_

"WAIT! SANS! I MUST CAPTURE THE HUMAN STIL!"

Frisk glanced at Papyrus and then at Sans.

"but, she's, uh... k-kinda already, y'know... g-gone past all your puzzles..?"

"WELL... I MUST FIGHT THE HUMAN-FRISK THEN!"

_"Fight me‽"_

"YES, HUMAN-FRISK. I SHALL BATTLE YOU AND CAPTURE YOU! MEET ME AT THE END OF TOWN!"

Papyrus then proceeded to jump out a window.

"welp. that's... a-a thing that's happening."

Frisk stared at Sans, unamused.

"yeah... anyway, as i said earlier, m-my brother's harmless. really, he is. he won't kill ya, i-i promise. if anything, he'll hurt battle you until you're too weak then send you to the garage/shed. oh! something that might help ya, well, t-two things... one, my bro has 'blue attacks' basically, i-if an attack is blue, don't move. another thing, if you plan on hurting my bro..." Sans' eyes went dark. "well, you'll have a bad time."

Frisk shivered at the dark tone of voice. The absence of eyelights, for some reason, made Sans look absolutely terrifying, even if Papyrus seemed never to have eyelights but still looked like an adorably innocent cinnamon roll.

Sans' eyelights returned.

"heh. kidding, kidding. well, no, i'm not, but i'm sure you won't hurt 'em. right?"

Frisk nodded, still trembling slightly.

"c'mon, we'd better n-not leave him waiting."

They walked to The end of town, fog obscuring their sight

Papyrus was a dark shadow in front of them, and despite Frisk knowing it was only the friendly skeleton in front of her, it still felt ominous and scary.

"HUMAN, LET ME TELL YOU OF SOME COMPLICATED FEELINGS... FEELINGS OF WONDERING IF WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS RIGHT, OF BEING FRIENDLY TO SOMEONE YOU CANNOT BE FRIENDS WITH... S-SURELY, THIS MUST BE WHAT YOU'RE FEELING RIGHT NOW! I, OF COURSE, HAVE NEVER FELT THIS WAY, AS I AM VERY GREAT!" Papyrus exclaimed. "ANYWAY, I HAVE TO CAPTURE YOU NOW SO THAT I CAN BE IN THE ROYAL GUARD!"

Everything flashed as three clicks sounded, and, with the exception of Frisk's red and white soul, everything went black and white.

"YOU HAVE THE FIRST TURN, HUMAN."

Frisk walked over to the buttons.

***Act.**

***Check.**

**Papyrus**

**AT- 8**

**DF- 2**

**Wants to capture you so he can be popular; doesn't realize capturing you equals killing you**

**Worries a lot about Sans, but other than that he's an innocent cinnamon roll**

**Likes to say "Nyeh-heh-heh"**

"NYEH-HEH-HEH!" Papyrus laughed.

It was Papyrus' turn now, and several small bones passed to Frisk's side, not even close to hitting her.

***Mercy**

***Spare**

"SO YOU REFUSE TO ATTACK… THEN LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY 'BLUE ATTACK!'"

Several slight transparent, bright blue bones appeared. Despite Frisk's instincts otherwise, she listened to Sans' advice and stayed still, and the bones passed through her harmlessly, only leaving a chill behind.

Suddenly, there was a_ "Ping!"_ and Frisk's soul turned blue, and it felt as if gravity was weighing down heavily on her.

"YOU'RE BLUE NOW, THAT'S MY ATTACK!

She turned and stared with a blank expression and outstretched hands at where she was sure Sans was, although not being able to see him through the blackness of the battle. She was deciding if she should sign something along the lines of, _'What the heck, man, you didn't tell me about this?'_ But the decision was made for her as a small bone passed underfoot and she fell face-first into the snow. Her HP fell to sixteen. She was sure she could hear Sans' snickering even over Papyrus' theme song.

"OH, HUMAN, I APOLOGIZE, I DIDN'T MEAN TO CATCH YOU OFF GUARD. ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

She sighed and raised a thumbs-up before standing back up, a task made difficult by what she was now sure was increased gravity, and she once again chose to spare Papyrus.

Several small bones came towards her and she jumped over them, having to jump a little higher for the slightly larger bone at the end.

Frisk spared Papyrus again.

She kept dodging and sparing until Papyrus finally got tired and decided to spare her back, once she was at four HP.

Papyrus sighed, "UNDYNE WILL BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN ME…"

"relax, bro. i-i'm sure that she'll be happy she gets the chance t-to _**fin**_ish the job herself." Sans replied.

Papyrus stares at his brother, unamused by Sans' pun.

Frisk, on the other hand, giggled slightly, assuming by the fin pun that Undyne was some sort of fish monster.

"so, kiddo, wanna go to grillby's? pap'll probably have to go a-ahead of us and report to undies anyway, right papyrus?"

"YES, BROTHER. YOU DO KNOW THAT UNDYNE HATES IT WHEN YOU CALL HER THAT, DON'T YOU?"

"yup. that's half the fun. c'mon, frisk, i-i know a shortcut."

"S-SANS, YOU AREN'T GOING TO-"

Sans cut Papyrus off, "nah, just the snow tunnels. minimum altering the fabric of the universe and time-space continuum, p-promise. and you know i hate promises, pap. you can trust me, i'm not gonna risk my life just to be e-even lazier than i already am."

Papyrus sighed before muttering, "Fine, I trust you."

Sans and Frisk began walking towards the snow tunnel.

**A/N: Okay guys! Sorry for the late chapter, I hit a bit of writer's block on Papyrus' fight so I just decided to go ahead and skip most of it like I did with Toriel's. I promise Undyne's fight'll be more detailed, and, who knows, maybe Sans'll get off his lazy butt for once and intervene. He certainly has the authority to, even if Undyne doesn't know about it and Sans doesn't like using it. But, who knows? Well, me, I know, I already have most of it planned out, even if I haven't started writing yet, but none of you guys know, sooo.**

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed!**

**Stay safe, wash your hands, follow proper social distancing, and be careful not to catch the Coronavirus! And for goodness sake, IF YOU HAVE IT, STAY INSIDE, DON'T GO SHOPPING OR SOMETHING! You might not care, but I promise a whole lot of people will be really grateful for it!**

**I have more time on my hands now, so expect another chapter soon. I'll post on a Friday, but I've learned my lesson about promising exact update schedules. I'll try and get it out next week or the week after though!**

**Have a nice morning/day/night/evening, and once again, please stay safe!**


	5. Chapter 5— Blue Echoes

**_...At this point I do think I'm just going to abandon my update schedule. I'll post chapters when I'm done with them._**

**_Comments!_**

**_Timeblade(Guest)'s comments- _**

**_(1)"Basically Undertale but like an old movie. _**

**_Cool." _**

**_(2)"Um, the element of confusion. _**

**_Why is this not on the periodic table? Because it definitely deserves to be there." _**

**_(3)"An innocent cinnamon roll. Indeed, we must protect him at all costs. _**

**_You're blue now. How does he know she's blue if everything is gray?.. is...disturbing to say the least."_**

**_Responses-_**

**_(1)- Uh… kinda, I guess. More changes than that, but you were just on the first chapter, so that's okay. _**

**_(2)- Yeah, it really does. Although, I've seen it in other Undertale comics before and it's probably a real shirt, so I in no way came up with it myself._**

**_(3)- "Yes, we must protect the cinnamon roll." Says half of me, while the other half says that I should corrupt him. Luckily for you guys—and Papyrus—I already have a basic plan for how this is going to go and corrupting Papyrus is not part of it. Well, that and he's already less innocent than he seems._**

**_Anyway, thank you for pointing that last bit out, I forgot that, while I included it in my notes about the AU, I forgot to actually write it in the story. So, color-based attacks still have color. (Same with the lasers in Hotland) which is why Frisk was able to tell if the bones were blue. So, Papyrus was still able to turn her soul blue, (if this was a genocide run so would Sans) Undyne can still turn her soul green, Alphys/MTT yellow, etc etc. That's not all that has color, either! Some places (as will be seen in this chapter) do have some color, for example, echo flowers are still cyan, albeit a much paler shade, and the lava in Hotlands is still, well, normal lava, actually… it's…literally just lava. _**

**_…_**

**_Catlover21(Guest) commented-_**

**_"this reminds me of that one time i almost jumped out a window."_**

**_Response-_**

**_Um??? Are you okay???? Why did you almost jump out a window??_**

**_..._**

**_I just realized Sans said that the only monsters he had met who understood asl are himself, Papyrus, and his dadster. Yeah, Gaster is Sans and Papyrus' dad in this. Dadster is best headcannon. (That I can think of at the moment…) Anyway, I'ma fix that so it says Grillby too. And, also, I changed a tiny little thing in chapter two or three, I don't remember which, but go check it out, it'll probably be important later on!_**

**_..._**

**_Hope all of you are doing well and staying safe! _**

**_Anyway, Undertale and it's characters belong to Toby Fox!_**

**_The Colorfade AU belongs to me, ask if you want to use it! (For now, at least!)_**

**_If you have any questions about the characters or plot, feel free to comment about it!_**

**_Chapter 5- Blue Echoes_**

Frisk sat down on the barstool, Sans sitting beside her.

"heya grillby!" Sans called out to the silver and gray fire elemental before turning to Frisk, "frisk, burger o-or fries?"

"_Burger_." She signed in reply.

"two orders of burg, grillbz."

Grillby gave them their burgers after a few minutes.

"want ketchup, kiddo?"

Frisk shook her head.

Sans shrugged, "more for me," and started drinking the ketchup straight out of the bottle after pouring a… _generous_ amount on his burger.

Frisk looked at him incredulously. "W-_Why_..?" She whispered, her voice hoarse from underuse.

Sans looked up, blinking in surprise. "so ya _can_ talk, huh?"

"I… I-I don't… I don't _like_ talking…" She muttered.

"eh, fair enough. neither does grillby—he s-signs most of the time too. h-honestly, with my stutter, i-if i could sign all the time, i would. but, uh… i… i have a-a lot of jobs, and not many monsters can sign, so it'd really just b-be an inconvenience," Sans paused, "oh, uh… y-your clothes are probably dry by now, if you wanna go get them before we head to waterfall. you can keep the hoodie, though."

Once they were finished with their food, they took a detour back to Sans' house so that Frisk could change back into her clothes, and they began walking towards Waterfall.

"so, frisk, what're you planning o-on doing once you get to asgore?"

"I don't know," She signed.

"ah. uh… welp, not sure whatcha c-could do… honestly? despite what pretty much everyone else thinks, y-you can't cross the barrier yourself—it requires a human soul _and_ a monster's soul, at least, to pass through. so… either you die, and we all go free, or asgore dies, and we remain trapped… i'm not sure which one i dislike more. you're the nicest human that's ever fallen down here, a-as far as i know, a-anyway… but… heh… fluffybuns, though, he gave hope to so many monsters…"

"_I'll find a way to get all of you out. without killing anyone!_"

"i-i sure hope so, kiddo… listen, if it comes down to it, d-don't sacrifice yourself. we've waited this long, we can wait a bit longer for a meaner human to fall down."

Frisk frowned, "_Just how long have you guys been trapped down here?_"

"uh… not sure exactly, you'd have to ask asgore, or, uh, his ex. or that one guy, uh… gerson? he was alive in the war, i think. he has a shop in waterfall. speaking of, here we are. um, i-i have to man my post. i'll see you later, i have a-another post in the first room of hotland."

Frisk nodded before saving. "_Wait, what's with that glowing blue flower?_"

"oh yeah, the echo flower. they, uh… d-don't believe everything they say. they repeat whatever they last heard. some… some monsters use 'em t-to play pranks on people."

Frisk hummed softly in understanding before continuing on to the next room.

She looked inside the box beside the waterfall after glancing apprehensively at the rocks tumbling down.

Inside it was what appeared to be some sort of tough boxing glove. Frisk decided she had no use for it, and closed the box.

She quickly but carefully crossed the river-like area of the waterfall. She didn't get hit by any of the falling rocks, thankfully, although she wondered where they came from, and how they seemed endless. Magic, probably, she decided, grumbling quietly about how wet her boots were.

She continued on to the next room.

It was a narrow path beside a pale, glowing… cyan river..? Really. The water and the flowers have enough magic to have color here, but not the monsters?

She glanced up at the small cliff above her, and the tall, thick grass in front of her. Deciding there were really no other options, she went into the bushes, before feeling a presence above her.

She looked up, and saw an armored monster standing there, appearing to be waiting for someone. Papyrus began walking towards them.

_'That must be Undyne, then.'_ Frisk thought to herself.

"S-SO, UNDYNE, ABOUT THE HUMAN I CONTACTED YOU ABOUT EARLIER—"

"Did you catch it?"

"U-UM, No, I did not… BUT! TH-THE HUMAN WAS UNCONSCIOUS FROM THE COLD, AND CAPTURING HER WHEN SHE COULD NOT FIGHT BACK WOULD NOT BE RIGHT."

"So. Where is it?"

"SHE SHOULD BE HERE SOON. OH! MAYBE WE COULD ALL HAVE LUNCH TOGETHER AND BECOME FRIENDS SO FIGHTING WOULD BE UNNECE—"

"Of course fighting is _necessary_, Papyrus, IT'S A HUMAN!"

"B-bu—Alright, Undyne…"

"Good."

Papyrus left after a few awkwardly silent moments.

Undyne appeared to be moving to leave, but her gaze snapped towards the tall grass where Frisk was, and a glowing white magic spear appeared in her grasp.

She glared down at the grass for a few moments, as if trying to spot something. As if trying to spot Frisk.

Undyne walked away, and Frisk slowly stepped out of the grass once she was sure that the guard was far enough.

An armless, reptilian monster child ran up to her.

"Yo, did'ja see that? How Undyne was staring at you? That was awesome! I'm so jealous! I wonder what you did to get her attention..? Anyways, I'm MK! What's your name?"

"F-Frisk," she muttered.

"Cool name! Anyway, c'mon, let's go see if we can watch her beat up bad guys!"

Frisk smiled. He really had no idea she was a human, did he? Despite the fact that she wasn't grayscale..? Well, not _completely_, anyway…

MK ran off, tripping right next to a save point before getting up and running off once more.

Frisk paused to save before following him.

_*A feeling of dread hangs over you. _

_*But you stay DETERMINED._

_*(File saved.)_

...

**_A/N: Welp, hope you guys enjoyed! Sorry for not updating for awhile, heh… I've been writing stuff! Just… not anything that I'm posting. _**

**_*Just gonna say this on here, despite the fact it has nothing to do with this AU—I'm discontinuing my Combined Dreams AU, as I've decided that I'd rather Lucid to be a personal OC than an AU character.*_**

**_Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker! Not entirely sure how that's gonna go, since I planned for this chapter to contain most, if not all, of Waterfall, and it just ended up reaching the thousand word mark a lot quicker than I thought it would, but Waterfall will most likely be done with by next chapter, or halfway through the chapter after that, at most. _**

**_Oh, also, this AU will NOT contain any ships! Not only would I rather not get into shipping debates about it, but I suck at writing romance, so there isn't gonna be any romantic pairings in this, even if it's in canon Undertale._**

**_Stay safe everyone!_**


End file.
